In Loving Memory of (the old) Friendster

Admit it or not, if you have been an Internet user for five years or more now, you probably were addicted to Friendster. I pity the site for not keeping up with Facebook. I was actually one of the last people among my friends to join Facebook because I thought Friendster was still good enough. However, when Friendster became as deserted as Chernobyl, I joined the bandwagon and created a Facebook account, saying goodbye to Friendster temporarily (I still check it once in a while).

My Profile Page. I masked my eyes. I'm not trying to be anonymous. I just don't want my face to be all over the Internet. :)

I became a user of Friendster on November 2003. I was a second year college student then, and just like for Facebook, I was one of the last people among my friends to create an account. (I was anti-mainstream. Hehe) Here are some quick facts about my account, more than seven years of memories in one blog entry.

I have used the following as my profile name: Karlo (my real name), Karlo Jesus (my dream name), Karlito, Karlobebe, Karlow (these three are the moniker my college classmates gave me), and the most recent one is kArL (jejemon style talaga).

I have five photo albums containing a total of 34 photos. Not too much of a camwhore. No one has grabbed my photos. :(

As of today, I have 325 friends. The last friend I added is a female cousin from Batangas. I still have one friend request pending. I don’t know the guy, and we don’t have common friends, so why add him, right? :P I am not like others who add people randomly. I have known or met all my friends personally, except for 10. These 10 are friends of friends. A few of them are blogmates. On a sad note, 2 of my friends are already dead (Loida and Patrick).

One of my friends. I can't believe that I used to consider myself emo. Yuck! Haha

My last shoutout is, “Happy Birthday to me!” I posted it last January. The last thing I posted on the bulletin board is a message asking my friends to add me on Facebook. The last testimonial I received is from a schoolmate, just saying hello basically. It was posted July 9, 2009, which is almost two years ago.

The oldest testi I have. The first testi I received got deleted when my friend deleted her account.

Friendster is most famous for the testimonials, which were later called comments. I don’t know what they are for exactly. Are they for pimping users to other users? I’m not sure. But it was fun to receive one. If you want to fish for compliments, asking for a ‘testi’ is the best way to go. Just be ready to give an obligatory testi back.

 

One of my fave testis.

I have exactly 203 comments on my page. In more than half of them, I have been called “quiet,” “silent” or other synonymous terms. No surprise there. Some of what my friends said are debatable though, but I find them flattering--heartthrob, cute, gentleman, smart, good writer. They make me blush. And I don’t usually blush.

Other comments make me wonder. I’ve been called “bossy,” “intimidating,” “bipolar,” “weird (sometimes true),” “morbid,” and “suicidal.” If that’s how people see me, then fine. I just disagree with me being called suicidal. My friend must have seen me during my emo phase so she said it. I value life more than anything else just to set the record straight.

If there’s one comment I really don’t like (and what made Friendster infamous), it is this one:

I wonder if anyone fell for this...

Spams have taken over Friendster, which made people hate the site and move to Facebook. Lately, Facebook has been peppered with spams, too. But unlike Friendster, I think Facebook will stay here longer.

Any day from now, Friendster will be deleting all of its users’ photos, messages, comments, blogs, and other content to make way for its revamped version. It is not closing down, as some people think, for user accounts will still be active. I dedicate this blog entry to the good old Friendster. My nicest online memories are with this site. May it rest in peace. :(